Telenor’s Exit from Myanmar - A Cautionary Tale for the Just Transition

On the day of publication, SOMO's joint complaint regarding Telenor's exit from Myanmar was officially accepted by the Norwegian National Contact Point. This article is part of a series focused on "responsible exits" and how the human rights...

Salil Tripathi on John Ruggie’s Legacy

John Ruggie was the man in a hurry. Nobody who knew him could tell when he slept or if he slept. I remember sometimes sending him a question soon after waking up at 6:30 or so in London, assuming that the busy man that he was – the UN Secretary...

The Centre for Sport and Human Rights Starts its Engines as an Independent Entity - After Years in the Making 

On 8 July 2021, the Centre for Sport and Human Rights (CSHR) fully separated from its founding body The Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB), becoming a standalone legal entity under Swiss law with a new board of independent Directors. As...

The Elephant And The Mouse: How Corporate Giants Can Avoid Trampling On Their Stakeholders

Thai Government Proposals To Restrict Civil Society Demand A Response – Including From Business

Over the past few years, more than 60 countries including India, Kenya, and Egypt among others, have enacted laws restricting freedom of assembly and civil society access to funding. Laws limiting or suppressing civil society’s operating space in...

On the Side of Humanity? Human Rights a Missing Link in COVID-19 Vaccine Strategies

Heartbreaking scenes in India, of people facing serious illness and death during a record-breaking surge in COVID-19 infections now spreading to other countries in South Asia, are a painful reality check on how much work is still ahead to stop the...

Better Building(s) - A Rights-Based Approach to Decarbonisation

As governments gather this week for the Porto Social Summit, they should consider the many ways that climate action in the built environment must be shaped to advance, rather than undermine, human rights.

Across the EU, momentum is growing to...

How the Pandemic is Affecting Bangladesh’s Garment Workers

The readymade garment (RMG) industry employs millions of workers in Bangladesh and has contributed to the nation's development. The COVID19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the sector as malls and factories had to close and still today...

Reflections from the 2021 Global Forum for Responsible Recruitment

Hosted by IHRB, the ILO, and IOM, the 2021 Global Forum for Responsible Recruitment (GFRR) took place from 12-15 April. The annual GFRR is a thought leadership platform for accelerating the fair, ethical, and responsible recruitment of migrant...

Making Facebook’s New Human Rights Policy Real

The world’s biggest social media platform, Facebook, recently unveiled its human rights policy. It is a step in the right direction. But declaring a policy is one thing; implementing it is quite another.

In a recent podcast with the Institute for...

What It’s Like to be a Seafarer During a Pandemic

In this article, through photos, we highlight the voices of some of the seafarers at the centre of the Crew Change Crisis who for months on end have been unable to disembark their ships because of global port and travel restrictions linked to the...

How EU Trade Policy Can Better Promote Sustainability Standards in Supply Chains

The European Union has almost finalised its public consultation on a new regulation around the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP). There are several measures that could be taken to improve the GSP’s effectiveness in incentivising positive human...

A Year Since Covid – What Can Businesses Continue To Do?

In the year since the World Health Organisation declared the pandemic, 2.6 million people have died. On the day of the anniversary – 11th March 2021 – there were 118 million recorded cases, a figure that continues to rise by the hour, with more than...

Why Human Rights Due Diligence Must be a Mandated Concern of Corporate Boards

Last year Rio Tinto destroyed a 46,000 year old native cultural site at Juukan Gorge in Western Australia without the free, prior and informed consent of its owners – the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikara peoples. The company’s own internal...

Let’s Make the Living Wage a Pre-Requisite to ‘Stakeholder Capitalism’

At the recently-concluded World Economic Forum Davos Agenda 2021 meetings, leaders repeatedly stressed that social and environmental capital are integral parts of whatever new form of capitalism emerges to meet our existential challenges.

Companies...

Lessons from CIIR for the Business and Human Rights Movement

IHRB’s 10th anniversary report rightly notes the business and human rights (BHR) movement’s history predates its visibility over the last couple of decades, with multiple actors nurturing its evolution.

My recent work writing A Record of Change in...

The UN at 75 - Innovation, renewal and business has a critical role to play

The commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations (UN) during 2020 has come at a time of great challenge. In addition to sending health and socio-economic shock waves across the globe, the COVID-19 pandemic has also worsened a number...

Sorry… I Dozed Off Reading Your Modern Slavery Statement

International Anti-Slavery Day on 18 October is a good chance to reflect on that most totemic part of the UK’s, and now Australia’s, modern slavery legislation – the corporate modern slavery statement.

It is nearly 5 years now since the...

Can Business Leaders Be More Effective Human Rights Advocates?

Here are some of my personal thoughts as I take up the role of Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Human Rights.

Recent events have once again posed questions about business’ role in society, particularly when it comes...

Keeping the Focus on Protecting Migrant Worker Rights - New Tool for Hotels in Qatar

When Qatar won the bid ten years ago to host the 2022 World Cup, many warned that the decision would put at great risk the over 2 million migrant workers that make up nearly 95% of the country’s workforce.

Some concerns around the World Cup...